Relive the Creation of the World*
MIDNIGHT
Reb Moshe Abramovitsch*: Dina, thank you. I am waking up. Please remember, it is not the telephone, it is a person in distress.
D to RMA: Yes, yes, yes.
D to Anna (person on the phone): Hello, my dear. The rabbi will be here in a moment.
A: Oh, I shouldn't be calling. She's not dead ...
D: Where are you?
A: Weiss Memorial Hospital, the I.C.U.
D: It's good that you called. Here, the rabbi is ready for you.
A to D: Thank you.
RMA: Rabbi Moshe Abramovitsch speaking. How may I help you?
A: I'm sorry, sorry. I shouldn't... She's not dead... I can't... I made a mistake. I'm so sorry that I woke you and your wife.
RMA: Please, let me say something before you hang up. A few things perhaps.
When the time comes as it does for us all it is important to know what to do and how to do it. You are not wishing anyone dead by asking questions.
Did you know that when our loved one dies, we die too. But our souls and our bodies are still connected. The soul of our loved one is newly free of its earthly body and might be confused, so we recite Tehillim (Psalms) near the body that the soul has just left behind it. We say Tehillim near the body until the burial. And that is as far as we can accompany our loved one. We are lost then with no world to inhabit. So, we go to the home of our loved one where we sit Shiva*. Seven days we sit. Closed windows, covered mirrors... there is no world to see, nothing to be reflected. We sit for seven days to relive the story of Creation.
At the end of Shiva someone will take each mourner outside for a walk. He or she will say, "look, this is the ground. That is the sky. Here is a bird, a flower, a bud. It might resemble the world that you remember but it is not the same world. That is gone. It is over. The world you knew contained, embraced the physical presence of your loved one. This is a new world. You must learn it. You must learn it in order to move forward. You must learn it in order to accept the continuing gift of life that is still yours.
May G-d grant you the courage to choose to learn this new world.
May G-d bestow upon you the focus and stamina that this task will demand.
May you endure the unbearable and survive.
... perhaps, even thrive.
A: Oh, they are calling me. I have to go.... thank you.
*NOTES
In this story, Reb or Rabbi Moshe Abramovitsch is a rabbi with the Chevra Kaddisha, the Jewish community burial society. A desperate phone call in the middle of the night happened in the course of life. What thoughtful words for the grief stricken. What a plan for moving forward from unbearable loss.
Shiva- Literally Hebrew for "seven", representing the initial seven days of mourning.
D to RMA: Yes, yes, yes.
D to Anna (person on the phone): Hello, my dear. The rabbi will be here in a moment.
A: Oh, I shouldn't be calling. She's not dead ...
D: Where are you?
A: Weiss Memorial Hospital, the I.C.U.
D: It's good that you called. Here, the rabbi is ready for you.
A to D: Thank you.
RMA: Rabbi Moshe Abramovitsch speaking. How may I help you?
A: I'm sorry, sorry. I shouldn't... She's not dead... I can't... I made a mistake. I'm so sorry that I woke you and your wife.
RMA: Please, let me say something before you hang up. A few things perhaps.
When the time comes as it does for us all it is important to know what to do and how to do it. You are not wishing anyone dead by asking questions.
Did you know that when our loved one dies, we die too. But our souls and our bodies are still connected. The soul of our loved one is newly free of its earthly body and might be confused, so we recite Tehillim (Psalms) near the body that the soul has just left behind it. We say Tehillim near the body until the burial. And that is as far as we can accompany our loved one. We are lost then with no world to inhabit. So, we go to the home of our loved one where we sit Shiva*. Seven days we sit. Closed windows, covered mirrors... there is no world to see, nothing to be reflected. We sit for seven days to relive the story of Creation.
At the end of Shiva someone will take each mourner outside for a walk. He or she will say, "look, this is the ground. That is the sky. Here is a bird, a flower, a bud. It might resemble the world that you remember but it is not the same world. That is gone. It is over. The world you knew contained, embraced the physical presence of your loved one. This is a new world. You must learn it. You must learn it in order to move forward. You must learn it in order to accept the continuing gift of life that is still yours.
May G-d grant you the courage to choose to learn this new world.
May G-d bestow upon you the focus and stamina that this task will demand.
May you endure the unbearable and survive.
... perhaps, even thrive.
A: Oh, they are calling me. I have to go.... thank you.
*NOTES
In this story, Reb or Rabbi Moshe Abramovitsch is a rabbi with the Chevra Kaddisha, the Jewish community burial society. A desperate phone call in the middle of the night happened in the course of life. What thoughtful words for the grief stricken. What a plan for moving forward from unbearable loss.
Shiva- Literally Hebrew for "seven", representing the initial seven days of mourning.
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